I'mma back up Sigma on this one. Modern day racism is not foaming at the mouth, wearing a white hood. Modern day racism is an innate preference for one group and a cynicism for other groups. It's subconscious, and it's a lot more pervasive than people like to think. Just because someone does not actively think "I hate black people, screw them" in making hiring decision does not mean that person does not have racial prejudices after hiring 150 white people and no black people.
And this is part of the shortcomings of the race discussion. Racial minorities see this subconscious racism as racism nonetheless. In fact, I read one article that I can't be fucked to look for that said black people prefer openly racist (white) doctors because those doctors are seen as less two-faced and conniving, and therefore seen as more trustworthy. In contrast, the white majority in this country sets a different standard and believes that it isn't racism if you don't say the N-word (see the Republican Presidential debates of 2012).
The other thing is that this does actively hurt minority groups. The first example that I think of is how hospitals disproportionately close in African-American portions of cities. Or how police make snap judgments and unfortunately do consider race (example, stop-and-frisk). Or how courts make the same snap judgment and give black people longer sentences. These subconscious discriminations will not go away unless people begin to call them what they really are: racism.
As for Target, my two cents, this is some gray area. On the one hand, whitewashing is a subtle racism that white people don't notice because white people are the norm and anyone else is qualified. On the other hand, and this is poor wording, you can't really see anything statistically meaningful with an N of one (and statistics do the best job of showing subconscious prejudices).
